LACMA Art of Looking

Over the summer, the boys and I stumbled upon a lecture at LACMA on Paul Cadmus's Coney Island painting. We sat down in small foldable aluminum stools and listened to perhaps twenty minutes of lecture before my youngest needed to move. My oldest stayed on and finished the lecture.

When I saw that LACMA's Mary Lenihan was going to give an Art of Looking discussion on Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, I thought the kids, especially my oldest, might enjoy it. In the Resnick Pavilion, we first viewed some works by Henri Lehman as an example of the establishment art to get a sense of what was popular when the Impressionists were the avant-garde.

In the Ahmanson building, Lenihan directed us to some paintings by Claude Monet, including In the Woods at Giverny & Nymphea. I love the talks at LACMA. The art educators really encourage the art of looking and present the works so that you as the viewer use your own eyes to see the painting and witness the perspective of the artist. Mary Lenihan provides the history that puts the painting in context. The Art of Looking discussions happen every second Thursday of the month.

My kids lasted a good half hour before the large elevator and Jeff Koons's Balloon Dog beckoned them.

Although they both sat and listened for the discussion, I think they had the most fun in the Boone Children's Gallery for Korean brush painting.